US corn stocks fall, soybeans rise in latest projections - USDA

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--There will be less corn and more soybeans available in the US in the months ahead, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Friday.

Corn ending stocks for both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 crop years were predicted to be lower than June estimates, according to data in the USDA’s July crop production report.

The numbers reflected a 175m bushel increase in the use of corn for feed and residual use, and a 50m bushel reduction in corn used for ethanol.

The USDA left yield unchanged for new crop corn at 163.5 bushels/acre, with 87.9m planted acres and an estimated 81m acres to be harvested. That would result in production of 13.245bn bushels.

New-crop soybean acreage was pegged at 78.9m acres planted, 78.0m acres harvested, with an average yield of 42.9 bushels per acre for total production of 3.345bn bushels. That was up 35m bushels from last month’s report.

For soybeans, USDA pegged old-crop ending stocks at 175m bushels, down 10m bu from last month, reflecting a 5m bushel increase in both crush and exports.